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Finally
the USA has an act that perfectly expresses its true spirit as the horror
show nation among nations: the random mass slaughter of little children by a
maniac. Is it not so that the failure to protect little children from harm is
the most shameful weakness an adult human can present?

Next,
of course, comes the empty ritual of pretending that
we must make sure something like this never happens again. How? By
some forensic inquiry into the psychology of the shooter, Mr. Lanza... his comings, goings, email musings, Netflix
rentals, chemical composition of his fingernail clippings? We flatter
ourselves with the technocratic conceit that if we can measure something
enough, we can control it. Ban assault weapons or tighten up the background
checks? The horse is out of the barn on that one. There are enough weapons
loose in the USA to conduct a full-scale Civil War right now. And probably
enough ill feeling. Just pick the flavor of the conflict you want:
ideological? Religious? Racial? Regional?

For
what it's worth, the Newtown Massacre to me is largely about the failure of
men in America, and in particular the failure of men to raise
up male children into men. The tragic monster that Mr. Lanza
grow up into lived with Mom and ended up parking four bullets in her brain.
Imagine the tensions in that monster. It's not an accident that the
commercial fantasies represented in movies and television
aimed at boys are populated by legions of super-heroes. This sort of
grandiosity -- the wish to project supernatural powers -- is exactly what you
get in boys who have not developed competence in any reality-based,
meaningful realm of endeavor -- and I wouldn't necessarily include school,
such as it is in our time, as a reality-based, meaningful realm of endeavor,
since it is mostly a brutally boring accreditation process. Notice, Mr. Lanza's chief instrument of death was the
"Bushmaster." His weapon made him a "master" of
something, at least, even if it was just the systematic slaughter of
six-year-old kids and the women in charge of them.

History
has its own arcs and particular moments in history have their own spirits of
the time. This moment for us is the sum of the unintended consequences of
countless bad choices we've made for many decades against the backdrop of
enormous material riches. I've inveighed against these manifold fiascos
enough for this audience. The net result is a nation that has turned men
either into weaklings, fakes, or monsters. I think the greater tragedy is
that we are past being able to teach ourselves how to act and now it is up to
nature and history to provide the only kind of instruction we can understand.

I
used to crack a joke when showing a particular slide in my visiting college
lectures that "we're a wicked people who deserve to be punished."

It's
not so funny anymore. Look around at the squalid mess that America has made
of its own terrain: the endless wastelands of free parking and slumping strip
malls, the wilderness of tract housing subdivisions, the cities left cored,
rotting, and stinking in the fall drizzle, the countless redundant roadways
-- and while you're at it, take a good hard look at the depressing and
disgraceful industrial boxes that school is conducted in, these
euphemistically-named "facilities." We live in physical
surroundings that are the perfect growth medium for serial killers, mass
murderers, psychopaths with no feeling, and sado-masochists preoccupied only with the ritual
orchestration of their own shame and guilt in the service of inflicting pain.

Let
me remind you that there is a range of thought and feeling evinced in human
culture that no longer exists in America. These things were called virtues.
They are qualities in thought and action related to goodness and excellence,
and they are in very short supply these days in the USA, though we are
well-supplied with fakes and approximations of virtue -- such as the moments
of sham heroism witnessed yesterday afternoon and evening by men watching
televised football. What matters now is that an epochal undertow of events is
dragging this enormous nation into an economic convulsion that will
inevitably turn political. I don't think that our society can be redeemed in
its current form. It has to pass through a tribulation that demands the
reemergence of adult male humans who know how to be men in more than one
dimension. And you who make it through to the other side will barely
comprehend the monsters left behind, or how they made themselves that way.

James Howard Kunstler has worked as a reporter and feature writer for a number of newspapers, and finally as a staff writer for Rolling Stone Magazine.
In 1975, he dropped out to write books on a full-time basis.
His nonfiction book, "The Long Emergency," describes the changes that American society faces in the 21st century. Discerning an imminent future of protracted socioeconomic crisis, Kunstler foresees the progressive dilapidation of subdivisions and strip malls, the depopulation of the American Southwest, and, amid a world at war over oil, military invasions of the West Coast; when the convulsion subsides, Americans will live in smaller places and eat locally grown food.

We are very much in agreement on the state of things and what to do to be prepared. You are farther along than I, but we'll manage. The zombie hord is going to be a scary and unfortunate situation. I don't blame technology for any of our modern proble Read more

Spot on Mr. Kunstler! 99% of the masses will not see or understand the real causes of such a tragedy. It's not about what was there in Mr. Lanza's environment that turned him into an individual that was capable of such a heinous crime, but what was NOT there. No forensic investigation will find it. And our nation does not want to admit that our path is leading us to our own destruction.

My wife works for the Department of Child Services in a Western state. Complain as you might about the heavy-handedness of government agencies, but what she sees on a daily basis would make the hair on your toes curl. Drug babies, teenage sex offenders, 14 year old unwed mothers and proud of it. The rising generation is being raised by dysfunctional, drug-addicted, video-game hypnotized human beings that were able to procreate during commercials. Her diagnose? No Fathers in the homes. Her Prognosis? Grim. We will soon have to defend ourselves against these children being raised without morals, guidance, or hope.

Here is where my comments will create howls of dismay in the minds of those most responsible for this situation. The U.S. government and the Women's movement have made Men optional. Single mothers are supported by the government, they are no longer economically dependent upon a husband. Such a situation has never existed in the history of the world. It cannot exist absence a government willing to step in and provide financial support. Men have said "Fine, I'm out of here". The bonds of love and sex that keep a couple together, committed to each other, and committed to raising their children have been completely torn asunder.

As you said, we are a wicked nation that deserves to be punished. It is coming and nigh on the doorsteps, deny it all you want. Others of us will repent and prepare.

For decades now we've been teaching our children that there is no God, that we are merely evolved slime, that all values are relative, and they will never be held accountable for their actions. And then in the ultimate demonstration we show them the value of life by aborting 50 million unborn babies since the Roe versus Wade Ruling.

So then, just what is it that you are advocating James; that we should teach our children lies: that God exists, that evolution is a myth and that human values are eternal? Well, God is a myth, evolution as Lamarck explained it is real and human values do come and go. As for teaching that we will never be held acountable, what a load of nonsense. Nobody tells their kid that they can rob and murder with impunity. As for the 50 million "unborn babies", are you suggesting in the context of this article that if we only had 50 million more unwanted children in America, tragic incidents such as the one referenced in the article would no longer occur? My contention is that they would be happening so regularly as to no longer be newsworthy.

Ah, Atheists. Without them where would we get so much of our comedy? As always, those who are wilfully ignorant of the reason we exist enjoy bringing up Darwin’s load of crap at every opportunity but never do they mention that Mr. Darwin on his death bed admitted that he was wrong. Like global warming nutz, Atheists refuse any science that disproves their beloved "Theory" and those scientists to do are swept aside as not doing real science. Anyone promoting creation is lying to children but text books that still teach evolution as fact using material that has been scientifically disproven as a hoax, purposeful fraud, or simply taking bones form a large area and assuming they belonged together is ok. Our predecessors on the way to becoming what we are today, like Pilt Down Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni), Lucy (Australopithecusafarensis), and every other step in our so called evolution, completely debunked but still taught as fact. Debunked by non-secular scientists but still not believed by those who won’t remove the blindfold that keeps them from seeing that God created the Heavens, the Earth, and All that is in it. It makes you wonder, would they believe in God even if he popped up in front of people like Vox, took them to Hell and then to Heaven, showed them around and brought them back? I’m guessing no, they would write it off as a bad reaction to eating a dodgy pizza. But hey, believing that we crawled out of mud, mutated unfold times through various beastly stages, and that non-living material became living creatures in a process that took 3 million years means we’re clear minded.

Darwin admitted that Lamarck was correct, not that evolution was wrong. And yes, anyone who teaches creation is most assuredly misinforming their children. (It would only be a lie if they themselves did not believe it.) Evolution has not been debunked as you so mistakenly claim. The only thing debunked is the notion that there is a need for God in order to explain how the universe got its start. God is a totally needless concept in that we can now fully explain how the universe came to be. Only the simple minded still believe in such utter tommy-rot. Indeed, even the criminals running the Vatican now accept the big bang model of creation as official church doctrine. As for creating life out of inate material, we have been doing it for 60 years.

i never thought you to be an educated individual. Not even for a split second. Your past posts have always been trite and irreverant put downs, usually of Jim C., not exactly the sort of stuff one might expect from a person with a modicum of intelligence.

But hey, go ahead and laugh at me and others of my ilk all you want. Indeed, i am pleased that i can make you laugh. But know this: your laughter does not alter the fact that God is nothing more than a myth perpetuated by the feeble minded.

Well that was exactly what I was expecting. You provided not one, nor did you even mention, point to counter my stating correctly that the basis, the very foundation for the evolution of slime into Homo Sapiens has been utterly refuted. You completely skirted it. And please check the facts around Darwin's admitting on his death bed was that he was wrong, that there is a God and he made a mistake. I understand you twisting this around, your not the first. I was assuming that someone of your advanced intellect would have done a little research before replying. As I assumed, you believe me to be nothing but a rube, such is the folly of arrogance. A wordsmith I am not, but you dismiss me all to soon simply because you see my responses to Jim C's childish comments as the limit of my intelligence. Once again arrogance. It is arrogance that limits individuals like yourself, you believe you know all and there's nothing to learn from the people in the berry patch.

Just one question if you please. You state " As for creating life out of inate material, we have been doing it for 60 years.". Please do tell, how much technology was used to do this and what kinds of power sources were used? Was this technology that available at many points during the last 3 million years? What powered it back then?

Atheism really is a religion, and it takes a lot more to believe in nothing when Creation is staring you in the face. As for the Vatican, what gives you the idea that the Roman Catholic church has anything to do with serving God. How silly you are.

I'll understand it if you choose not to reply to a simpleton such as myself. We'll leave it as your way out of this one.

Thank you for your two responses to my earlier posts. Allow me to attempt to answer your cavils as best i can. That you believe that you stated correctly that the very basis for evolution has been debunked does not make it so. Evolution has been proven well beyond any reasonable doubt so as that anyone who is not blinded to reality by the opium of the masses has no serious doubts. If there is any controversy, it is whether Darwin or Lamarck better described the evolutionary process. That in itself is rather surprising in that Darwin did admit that Lamarck probably got it right. As for the story that Darwin admitted on his death bed that he was wrong, that story is without any merit whatsoever. There was no such admission. Even creationists admit to this. You might find this article on the subject of interest:www.answersingenesis.org/docs/1315.asp The web site is a Christian fundamentalist one that does not believe in evolution, so i do not know why you should doubt their word on the matter.

To reply to your one question, very little technology was used in fact. Aside from the actual materials used (all found in nature) the only technology used was a spark generator to simulate lightening. Amino acids, the basic building blocks of life, were created in this manner. So, aside from the artificial lightening, there was not anything not available on the planet for life to arise. Happily for us, the planet had real lightening. And it had the ideal conditions for life to arise not for 3 million years as you and Herr Focal Point assert, but for many billions of years. (Just where did you fellows come up with that number?)

Atheism is not a religion as you assert just as not believing in Santa Claus is not a religion. That i do not believe in a God who created the universe does not make me blind to the incredibly awe inspiring place that the universe is. It just means that in determining how it all came to be, i apply Occam's razor to the question and when one does that, one sees that God is a totally unnecessary assumption.

Moving on to your second post, i most certainly did not miss your point that science does not prove that God does not exist. i made that very point using those very same words. You could go back and read it. My point was that science has made a belief in God unnecessary. Science has been able to explain with startling clarity just how and even when the universe came to be and it also explains most vividly how life can arise from inate material.

As well, let me assure you that i did not mistake your cute story for an attempt to prove the reality of God's existence. Sorry if i left you with that impression. Let me add that it is not folly not to believe in an unnecessary concept. More accurately could folly be described as believing in something for which there is no proof and which is an unnecessary concept that only hinders our ability to understand the universe.

Do i think you a simpleton and rube as you seem to believe? No, not really. Insofar as i have actually formulated any opinion of you, it would have been that you had an unhealhy fixation with Jim C. that you seem to have more or less gotten over. i suppose you also came across as someone who could make worthwhile contributions to these pages if you would only stop your monomania with Jim; otherwise i would not have invested my time trying to get you to shift your focus. That you believe in God does not make you a simpleton. Many smart people share your belief including many scientists. As i see it, such beliefs are an epiphenomenon of one's upbringing for the most part, but occasionally arise due to the ingestion of a tainted pizza slice.

In closing let me say that when i claim not to believe in God, the God that i do not believe in is the God of the Christians, Muslims and Jews. That God is an abomination that should it exist, should be hunted down and murdered like a mad dog. That being said, i have been developing my own notion over the last 3 decades of what God would be if there is a God. It is a notion that dovetails nicely with my understanding that the universe is hierarchically structured in organic systems. However, i cannot bring myself to believe that my unnecessary construct is any more real than the God i do not believe in.

This about sums it up. No matter what evidence you present an atheist they simply can't admit they were wrong. Usually because they believe they are too educated to believe in a Creator, one that they would have to answer to, one that is obviously far smarter than they hold themselves up to be.

An Atheist and a Bear

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created.

"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to see what the cause was, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.

At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God! .... Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, you deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don’t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?". The atheist looked directly into the light. It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian? "Very well," said the voice.

The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed.

And then the bear dropped his right paw brought both paws together.. .bowed his head and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful."

It was a cute story Hart and i did smile. But of course the story was fictional and not based on any fact. And as you must realize, fictional tales based on imaginary events cannot make of me a Deist. As for being able to present me with real evidence for the existence of God, you can no more do it than any philosopher over the ages has been able to demonstrate a logical proof for the existence of God, hence your reliance on the cute story you related.

As an aside, science does not prove that God does not exist. Science merely proves that the concept of God is totally unnecessary in demonstrating how the universe came to be.

Somehow you missed the point, not surprising really. Science does not prove that God does not exist. It also does not prove evolution. Every items that evolutionists hold as fact has been dis-proven by science, as such it is nothing more that what it has always been called, a theory.

"As for being able to present me with real evidence for the existence of God, you can no more do it than any philosopher over the ages has been able to demonstrate a logical proof for the existence of God, hence your reliance on the cute story you related. ". Please don't confuse a joke that nicely points out the folly of believing there is no God with being some sort of proof.

I can only hope that you will have an Ah Ha moment before passing and realize how closed your mind really is.

But hey, it's just me, an nu-educated berry patch dweller so what have you got to worry about? You've got all that arrogance to keep you safe from anything and everything.

Why is it that you are so in love with the modern world that has given us so much pain and suffering, so much GMO food that kids suffer from the very food that is supposed to nourish them, that the city's we've created to enhance our life now destroy our health? Why do you defend the liberal policies that had such a large part in creating people like Mr. Lanza?

Why do you bemoan anyone that points out the blatant and tragic suffering our so called progress has caused us? Just how much does the US government pay you for your efforts to counter anything that does not meet with their approval? If I missed it please point it out to me, from real sources, how the number of incidents like the Newton Elementary School shooting happened in the same proportion back in the 40's. 50's, 60, 70's, 80,s, and even 90’s. As I was around during the majority of those times and have no recollection of this type of event so I can only deduce that this is a phenomenon of today's world, culture. If something like this happened ’back then’ it would have been big news so it’s not a case of something being buried. When you compare the mass killing of children in the US to events around the world that are based on racial hatred or keeping to religious honors you do all of the US population a disservice. You’ve placed the US on the same level of third world cultures insofar as the treatment of humans is concerned. Here’s a very short and quick list of like events, Columbine, Red Lake, and Taber Alberta Canada. Each one happened in the last 8 years. Please tell me how our advanced technology has helped us to become more civil to each other in light of these events? Tell us how our children are safer now than ‘back then’?

When you chastise JHK for pointing out that technology has caused us more pain than it’s relieved do you actually believe it or are you merely posting to tow the government line?

I don't think the moderator will let it go through, but you can see to 'whom' my previous comment was directed and get an idea of what I may have had to say. I completely agree with Hart's comment...but he is being a lot nicer than I was!

Want a view of American men's self-image? Simply watch t.v. commercials. After a half dozen or so one begins to understand how American men or how some American men view most American men. I'm unable to discern whether most commercials are made by men or mental institution inhabitants or creatures from another planet. The message seems to be, among others, 'You'll hate yourself even more thoroughly if you don't purchase our product.'

Right on schedule comes Kunstler, the Grinch that stole Christmas. In this latest buffonery he says (regarding the recent murder of children), "For what it's worth, the Newtown Massacre to me is largely about the failure of men in America..." As a so-called journalist Kunstler overlooks the fact that the slaughter of innocents is not an American monopoly. The world is replete with these incidents: from radical Muslims killing their children for some religious or cultural slight to a Chinese man recently attacking 22 kids with a knife. Kunstler will take any negative incident and twist it into a condemnation of America. No surpirse here.

From this he progresses to his usual irrational screed against modern civilization. He says, "Look around at the squalid mess that America has made of its own terrain: the endless wastelands of free parking and slumping strip malls, the wilderness of tract housing subdivisions, the cities left cored, rotting, and stinking in the fall drizzle, the countless redundant roadways..."

Modern shopping is bad??? Ample parking is bad??? Paved roads are bad??? Kunstler's alternative is ludricious: a muddy path through the 'lovely' wilderness to a rickety shack, a stinking outhouse -- and an unkept cemetery filled with children felled by disease? But what can one expect from living in a world only made by hand.

It is a rare day indeed where both JK and JC make points. Yes, American culture is degraded. Families are falling appart. But this is not because we have tract housing and strip malls, roads, parking lots, etc... And JC is correct to point this out.The degradation of American culture is due to, as JK points out, the absense of the father in many families. Why? Largely because of government programs that both directly and indirectly encourage men to be absent. It's a fact that a family on the edge of making it, can get more ' govt. assistance' if the father is absent, so it is an advantage (in the short run) for him to leave. It is an unintended consequence of the welfare laws.

In reality, would any male child be proud of his father if he learns that his father is scared shi*-less ?? Let's say the son goes to his father's office; only to learn that all the men in the building are hiding behind metal detectors, full body scanners and several armed guards. How can the son grow up to be a REAL man when he's confronted by all the men he sees living in Constant Fear ?? Surrounded by gutless wonders isn't going to improve the child's self-image.

Well right on cue, when JHK posts an article Jimmy C pukes out another episode of Jimmy's World. Jimmy C has provided yet another look into the dark place that is his mind. In his world technology has saved the humble masses known as humans. Without technology we would be living like cavemen, we wouldn't be able to drive 20 miles to a big box store that has hauled stuff in from around the world and in doing so has caused more polution than the average human produces in a lifetime. Then we can enter these big box stores filled with people carrying all sorts of illnesses to spend money we don’t have to buy things we don't need to fill up space in the too large dwellings we live in. But hey, theres plenty of parking! If we get sick (pretty much guaranteed with all the crap that gets put in our food) we can travel 10 miles to see a doctor who is so overburdened that he or she will simply do a cursory examination and prescribe some drug that will further pollute our minds and bodies. Yes technology is great. We live shorter lives than people who were around 100 years ago but we win because we have 60" TV's, iPhones and indoor toilets.

Jimmy believes that we're better off but never looks beyond what his perception is of the real world. If he did he would see that today people living in various parts of the world without his beloved technology, medicine, malls, and parking lots live healthier lives, and gasp... they have to use outhouses. They live longer too but let’s not focus on this sort of thing, it runs contrary to Jimmy's beloved big government lobby driven propaganda.

Go ahead Jimmy, chow down on that great GMO food. Smell that diesel exhaust, buy the next iPhone that comes out and don't worry about anything, technology and big government (business - is there really any difference any more) is here to keep us safe or medicate us to the point where we just won’t care anymore.

Teenage single mothers don’t need to have the child’s father around, what for? The government can do a better job of raising kids than any parent, they have ‘professionals’ for this sort of thing (it makes you wonder how humanity made it this far without professional help, must have just been lucky). We just need to sit back and allow ourselves to be told what to do next. When the brain in one of these government raised kids fizzles and we lose another 20, 50, or even 1000 kids in a school massacre somewhere we can safely look to the government to make sure it doesn’t happen again and then pop a couple of pills and head for Jimmy world.

Wow! Jim, you must really have hit a nerve. The liberals don't even read your posts, they just Flame On! Rational discussion is not an option. I guess they are really looking forward to getting down in the mud of a world made by hand. Or, maybe they think that somebody else will do the work for them. Not me!Perhaps they don't realize that a simpler society, close to the land, means that everybody has to scrape in the dirt to get food. Everybody!

Unfortunately, the DemoPublicans may very well take our society off that cliff and into the mud. Maybe folks need to spend a few years living the 'good life' of disease and squalor before they realize what wonders civilization has brought to Modern Living.

Correct. Shine a light on Liberal environmentalists like Kunstler and their supporters come out like in all their ugliness like the zombies in The Night of the Living Dead. I love pushing their buttons and literally can't wait for Kunstler's Monday posts - they're ridiculously easy to put down, like....zombies.

So you call me a "Liberal environmentalist supporter"? A JHK supporter? You couldn't be more wrong. You could get away with accusing me of supporting some of his ideas but you didn't. You went whole hog and couldn't determine there was a difference. Once again you are consistently and completely wrong. So far your batting into into the negative numbers. You really don't have a grasp of the reality that almost everyone else on the planet is part of. Jimmy C world, where nothing matters and you can swing your opinion back and forth anytime you want.

The only reason you cant wait for Mondays? Really, is this the extent to which you determine the value for one day of the week, slandering JHK? You really need to trash the keyboard, go outside, and head to a continuing education center to sign up. It would be of great value to you. You may even be able to make sense of and accept other peoples opinions and preferences.

About the only people who think that less technology would lead to scraping in the mud and living in diseased squalor are those that are destined to lose the most if technology crashes and burns. They wouldn't have the skills required to plant a seed or know which end of a rake is the business end.

It's odd that J post's so many comments defending Jim C. Jim C... J is there a difference? I think not.

Ha Ha! I am not JC. I disagree with him quite often, he goes too far. But on this occasion, I agreed with him. So, I take his posts on a case by case basis. That was my point in the previous comment that the Liberals don't even bother to read his posts, they just flame him regardless of what he writes.

Regarding technology and the economy, I think you have them confused. A failure of the economy will not bring about less technology. It will just mean that the average person will not have access to technology.

So, if it is to be a world made by hand, are you ready for that? If you know which end of the rake is the business end, do you have what is needed to make a go of it, i.e. Land, seed, a stockpile of supplies to get you over the hump untill you are feeding yourself, (if you are not already doing so)? Do you have the tools and skills to replace/repair the tools needed to survive?

I can easily answer your questions about knowing which end of rake is the business end and having what it takes to get myself and my family over the hump and well beyond it. Tools (hand tools, I know a lot of people have no idea what that means) are at hand and skills are there and are being taught to the kids and family. When things do fall apart we'll be able to exist comfortably for a very long time, we have reduced our dependence on electricity and fossil fuels to the point where these are luxury items but not required to live. And gee whiz, we’ll even have some lectrizity to lighten up dem der incandescent bulbs without burning fossil fuels. We're fortunate in that our family has benefited from a work ethic that few these days possess and that the coming decline was visible from waaaaay back so we had time to prepare. Ya, I had to put up with a little abuse from my wife but she now sees the wisdom of being self-sufficient. And we have enough to trade for anything we might need including a nice stash of gold and silver once real money is useful again. Once the reset button is hit precious metals will rule again as they rightly should.

What worries me is that there are so many people out there that still believe the government will take care of them, have they not seen the documentaries showcasing the wonderful Fusion Centers? Have they not read or heard about the gong show that happened after Katrina or even how parts of Washington D.C., the most heavily guarded and FEMA managed city on the planet, was without power for a week after what some parts of the US consider to be an average storm? What does it take to get through to these people? Then there are people like Jim C who in one comment tells us that he's prepared for the worst but still defends technology and all the ill's it's brought us in other comments. It seems like he can't figure out which side of the fence he should be on. Is he secretly being paid by a shadowy government department to smooth over the mess they have gotten the world into? Anyone I know that is making or has made preparations to keep eating and keep warm when Walmart shuts down do their best to ensure others are enlightened about what’s really going on in the world. Obviously this is not the case with Jim. He’s more like an Obama lapdog looking for another handout.

So, no I won’t be a zombie but I do thank you for caring. I do have to wonder though if Jims relatives, friends, dog, or whatever will be able to put up with his wishywashyness for very long before they put him out on an ice flow once they are in closed quarters with him. =)

We are very much in agreement on the state of things and what to do to be prepared. You are farther along than I, but we'll manage.

The zombie hord is going to be a scary and unfortunate situation.

I don't blame technology for any of our modern problems though. Without technology, there were, and maybe will be, a lot fewer people alive in the world. Certainly, many people have, and will, die without modern medicines. Perhaps the only 'problem' attributable to technology, is an overreliance on it. It is technology that has enabled so many people to live in a state of un-preparedness.